Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[MATTROSE94]

couple of days old, but Hamas takes trip to Moscow

A Hamas delegation lands in Moscow to meet with officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The delegation is made up of Hamas officials based outside of Gaza.

Hamas has seen its ties with Russia improve in recent years. Last month, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held a rare phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Maybe Hamas will deploy a small number of troop to help Russia in Ukraine.

[CumbrianLefty]

Funny thing that occurred to me... unlike Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union largely managed to break up peacefully in 1991. Except that the war that didn't happen back then happens now, thirty years later.

If the instigators of the August Coup had been more successfully though, it could have already occurred in the 90s.

What I'm trying to say is... perhaps it was more or less inevitable, and it only needed the right wrong person to be in charge in Moscow.

The war was inevitable as long as a pervasive revanchist "great power" neo imperialist mindset existed among the military and political elite post-Soviet Russia. If it wasn't Putin, it would have been some other former mid-level Soviet official or officer that succeeded Yeltsin who would have followed a similar authoritarian and militaristic path.

Though it *still* has to be said that how much of the West behaved during and immediately after the USSR's fall didn't help things. There was far too much empty headed triumphalism, and the line many took towards Russia sometimes verged on the contemptuous. More respect might have made it that bit harder for the Putin mentality to become so dominant.

[rc18]

This is claimed to be footage of the Makarov aflame taken by a drone. It isn't very good quality which raises some doubts, but the silhouette does at least appear to resemble an Admiral Grigorovich class.

https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/1522577939669438466?s=20&t=7Q_-yLfsdq...

[Logical]

I really wish it's true but the video does not appear convincing to me. Too CGI like. No indication of what platform recorded this video either.

[rc18]

I really wish it's true but the video does not appear convincing to me. Too CGI like. No indication of what platform recorded this video either.

It's possible, there's always loads of fakes that do the rounds.

Edit: I think it could indeed be a fake, using a game mod. Sneaky.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Bear in mind that even if the reports are true (and these are reports for which there isn’t an official UkrMOD claim), the ship being on fire does not imply irreversible, debilitating damage. Conversely, a large ship can quite easily be totalled for months (or forever) without being sunk (quite a rare occurrence, because anti-ship missiles tend to hit above the waterline).

What we should be looking out for is whether the Makarov continues to operate in the coming weeks, rather than simply docking in Sevastopol. Personally, I suspect it’s still functional.

Edit: over the years, there have been contradictory rumours regarding the states of the Ukrainian ships captured in Crimea; Russia has also stolen a smaller flotilla and spare parts in its current campaign. Given the issues with the Montreux convention, Russia may opt to press some of these into service if it can - it operates (or has operated) the same types, and can pull spare parts and crew from its other fleets. There’s no like-for-like replacement for the Moskva and there wouldn’t be for frigates like the Makarov, but more corvettes/landing ships may be the next best bet if attrition continues.

[Mopsus]

Huge news

https://twitter.com/KonotopW/status/1522505047426453507

Is Putin going to replace him with anyone or is he just going to be assuming more and more control for himself?

[Storr]

Huge news

https://twitter.com/KonotopW/status/1522505047426453507

Is Putin going to replace him with anyone or is he just going to be assuming more and more control for himself?

If it’s the latter, credit to Putin for going full Czar Nicholas II.

[Mopsus]

Huge news

https://twitter.com/KonotopW/status/1522505047426453507

Is Putin going to replace him with anyone or is he just going to be assuming more and more control for himself?

If it’s the latter, credit to Putin for going full Czar Nicholas II.

I was going to say, if it’s the latter, that’s a great sign for the Ukrainians, considering which leaders have done things like that in the past.

[Woody]

Some positive news: at least 500 civilians have left the Azovstal plant since the evacuations begun.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Awwww yeah!

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1522509777053618176

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1522628097019105280
The Russians continue to collapse in the Kharkiv area

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1522632688926179329

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1522650203362406403
https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1522656750435975168

[Badger]

Some positive news: at least 500 civilians have left the Azovstal plant since the evacuations begun.

That is good news. Link?

( on a personal note, I can't believe I just recommended a sir Woodbury Post )

[NOVA Green]

So for anybody interested in tracking the updates on The Makarov, this is a website which historically has done pretty solid coverage of the previous Naval War incidents during the current war.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-says-it-destroyed-another-ship-as-rumors-swirl-of-russian-warship-on-fire

As others have noted, it is certainly interesting that NATO Intelligence surveillance around the location of the alleged sinking was hot and heavy...


https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1522583171656736768?s=20&t=K7FRT1duh5iA...

[The Dowager Mod]

https://twitter.com/OSINT88/status/1522734315599245312

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1522730767612268547

[Woody]

Some positive news: at least 500 civilians have left the Azovstal plant since the evacuations begun.

That is good news. Link?

( on a personal note, I can't believe I just recommended a sir Woodbury Post )

https://kyivindependent.com/uncategorized/yermak-almost-500-civilians-evacuated-from-besieged-mariupol-azovstal-steel-plant/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/06/un-plans-third-evacuation-from-azovstal-steelworks-as-battle-continues-to-rage

The Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said people would be evacuated from Mariupol at midday local time on Friday. The UN and the Red Cross said they had so far helped nearly 500 civilians flee the steel plant area in the southern port city during two operations in the past week.

UA authorities are saying that around 1000 is still left in the plant.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Putin loses another boat.


https://mobile.twitter.com/H_Adventurer/status/1522692959656984576

[Woody]

Russians have been aggressively russifying Kherson Oblast. They are officialy converting it into the ruble zone, rerouted it's internet to Russian, forcing schools to adopt Russian textbooks, and they are now planning giving out citizenship/passports to it's inhabitants. More plans as we know of include having it's gas and energy being sent from Russian occupied Crimea, restoring old powerlines which were destroyed after it's 2014 annexation & planned permanent Russian occupation as per Andrey Turchak's (Russian senator/Secretary of the General Council of United Russia) comments during his visit to Kherson.

[pppolitics]

Russians have been aggressively russifying Kherson Oblast. They are officialy converting it into the ruble zone, rerouted it's internet to Russian, forcing schools to adopt Russian textbooks, and they are now planning giving out citizenship/passports to it's inhabitants. More plans as we know of include having it's gas and energy being sent from Russian occupied Crimea, restoring old powerlines which were destroyed after it's 2014 annexation & planned permanent Russian occupation as per Andrey Turchak's (Russian senator/Secretary of the General Council of United Russia) comments during his visit to Kherson.

There is a name for that.

It's colonialism.

[DINGO Joe]

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1522661682467815425

Weirdest?  Well, it depends on which day you've watched Madison's version of “pobedobesie”

[DINGO Joe]

https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1522874379935576064

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Putin loses another boat.


https://mobile.twitter.com/H_Adventurer/status/1522692959656984576

The yacht is merely under tow in the Black Sea.